Yesterday, masked men stormed the set of a public television studio in the port city of Guayaquil, waving guns and explosives during a live broadcast. The incident was broadcast for about 15 minutes until the feed was finally cut. No one was killed during the attack and police say the 13 attackers have been arrested and will be charged with terrorism. Authorities did not specify who was behind the attack. “I am still in shock,” Alina Manrique, head of news for TC Television, which suffered the attack, told the Associated Press (AP). “Everything has collapsed .... All I know is that its time to leave this country and go very far away.” On Jan. 9, shortly after the assault, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa signed an executive order declaring an “internal armed conflict,” and designated 20 drug trafficking gangs as terrorist organizations, which gives Ecuador’s military the ability to “neutralize” them within the confines of international law, the AP reported. The attack on the TV station followed a number of other attacks, police abductions, and a prison break. The recent surge in violence launched on Jan. 7 after police moved into a prison where Adolfo “Fito” Macías, a high-profile leader of one of Ecuador’s most notorious gangs, was being held. Macías was serving a 34-year sentence following a conviction on drug trafficking, murder, and organized crime charges. Authorities were planning to transfer him to a smaller prison within the same compound, which was considered safer. But upon arriving at his cell, guards found that it was empty. Authorities are not sure how Macías escaped, but two prison guards have been charged in aiding him. After news of the escape was made public, riots were triggered in at least six jails across the country, with multiple prison guards being taken hostage. A manhunt is now underway for Macías and Fabricio Colon Pico, leader of Los Lobos, who also escaped prison the same day. Ecuador has been the center of a number of horrific killings, kidnappings, and extortions. As Daily Mail reports, fishermen have been massacred at ports, maimed bodies have been found hanging from bridges, and riots have resulted in the death of hundreds in prisons. New video footage released by a cartel shows kidnapped police officers sitting on the ground with at least one gun pointed at them. The gang forced an officer to read a statement that said: “You declared war, you will get war. You declared a state of emergency. We declare police, civilians and soldiers to be the spoils of war.” The statement added the warning that anyone the cartels found on the street after 11 p.m. would be executed. Another video shows a group of prison guards held hostage by inmates holding machetes and knives. The guards were forced to read the same message as the kidnapped police. Following this statement, Noboa ordered the army to neutralize the criminal gangs. In other footage, students at the University of Guayaquil can be seen fleeing after armed gangs allegedly stormed the facility and attempted to kidnap students. Police say eight people have been killed and three wounded in attacks that took place in Guayaquil, while two police officers were “viciously murdered” in the nearby town of Nobol. In a statement on X, Ecuador Police Chief Gen. César Augusto Zapata Correa said, “The perpetrators will be brought to justice to be punished for the terrorist acts.” A statement from the Ecuadorian police on Jan. 10 said that 70 people have been arrested.Ecuador has erupted into what many are calling a civil war after drug cartels launched a catastrophic amount of violence across the country, with scenes reminiscent of a dystopian, post-apocalyptic film.
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